Late into the Boston Red Sox's infamous 86-year championship drought -from 1918 to 2004 - it became nearly taboo to talk seriously about the 1918 team. A year after the Red Sox won their fifth World Championship in 15 years, owner Harry Frazee sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees, who went on to win their first of many titles.

Some even believed the Red Sox were cursed. The year the Sox had last won it all, 1918, became a sing-song taunt delivered by mocking Yankees fans.

This overlooked season was a fascinating one, played in the shadow of the first World War with dozens of players leaving for military service or war-related work all year long.

In this book, 28 members of the Society for American Baseball Research have compiled the most in-depth look at the 1918 Red Sox ever published. They have unearthed a wealth of information - much of it never seen before - about every one of the 32 players who suited up that year, from Hall-of-Famers Babe Ruth and Harry Hooper to Red Bluhm, who batted only once.